Setts



G. s. TOUGAS & ,P. POU NIER;

WASHING MACHINE.

No. 370,908. Patented Oct. 4, 1887-.

(Wyn. @m/ /M V UNIT D STATES PATENT I Erica.

GEORGE S. TOUGAS AND FRANQOIS FOURNIER, OF GRAFTON, MASSACHU- SETTS.

WASHING-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 370,908, dated October 4, 1881 Application filed June 4, 1887. Serial No. 240,322. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that we, GEORGE S. TOUGAS, a citizen of the United States, and FRANgoIs FoURNIER,asub j ect of the Queen of Great Britain, both residing at Grafton, in the county of \Vorcester and State of Massachusetts, have jointly invented certain new and useful Improvements in Washing-Machines; and we do.

hereby declare'that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which, in connection with the drawing making a part of this specification, will enable others skilled in the art to which our invention belongs to make and use the same.

Our invention relates to washing-machines of that class in which the clothes are cleaned by being stirred or agitated in boiling water, and more especially to the mechanism for operating the stirrer in said machines; and our invention consists in certain novel features of construction, arrangement, and combination of the several parts of a washing-machine of the class above specified, as will behereinafter fully described, and the nature thereof indicated by the claims.

In the accompanying drawing is shown a side elevation of a washing-machine embodying our improvements, a portion of one side being broken away to show' the interior of the suds-box. lid or cover and parts connected therewith partially raised and the mechanism for operating the stirrer mechanism disconnected therefrom.

In said drawing, 1 is the suds-box, of ordinary construction, having its interior sides or walls provided with corrugated lining or washboards in the usual manner. The box 1 is preferably of square or rectangular shape and supported upon legs 2, and provided with a hinged lid or cover, 3, which, when opened and turned back, rests upon a projecting support, 4, at one end of the box 1.

Through the central part of the cover 3 extends the vertical shaft 5 of the agitator or stirrer 6, having downwardly-projecting arms 7. The shaft5has its bearing in the cover 3, and is provided with a bevel-gear, 8, upon its upper end, which meshes into and is driven by 50 a bevel-gear, 9, rigidly mounted on a shaft, 10,

The dotted lines show the hinged with the drawing.

.anism for operating the arm 12 of the stirrer mechanism, so that the stirrer may be operated very easily and with little exertion and at a high rate of speed, thus producing more satisfactory results. a

At one end of the sudsbox 1 is mounted a crankshaft, 13, provided at one end with a handle, 14, for operating said shaft, and at the other end with a crank, 15, connected by a crank-connector, 16, with a lever, 17, pivoted on a stud, 18, at its lower end to the box 1,and held in position against the side of the box by the strap or loop 19, secured thereto.

In the upper end of the lever 17 is pivoted, on a pin, 20, one end of a rod, 21. The other end of said rod 21 is provided with an eye or loop, 22, pivoted thereon, and adapted to fit over the upper end of the arm 12, (see full lines in the drawing,) thus connecting the arm 12 of the stirrer mechanism with the lever 17.

When it is desired to raise the lid or cover 3, the free end of the rod 21 is raised up, disconnecting the arm 12 of the stirrer mechanism from said rod, which drops down into the position shown by dotted lines .in the drawing.

In order to vary the degree of rotation of the stirrer 6 and arms 7 ,the outer end of the crank-connector 16 may be adjustably connected with the upright lever 17 by means of a slot, 23, in said lever and a bolt, 24, extend in g through said slot and the end of the crankconnector 16, as shown in the drawing.

The operation of the mechanism for operating the arm 12 of thestirrer mechanism will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the above description, in connection The operator, by means of the handle 14, causes the crank-shaft 13 to 100' revolve continuously in either direct-ion, and through the intervention of the crank 15 and crank-connector 16 the lever 17 to have a reciprocation motion back and forth, which is communicated to the arm 12 of the stirrer mechanism through the rod 21, and the reciprocating motion of the arm 12 is communicated to the stirrer 6 and arms 7 thereof through the shaft 10, bevel-gears 8 and 9, and vertical shaft 5, as hereinbefore described.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a washing-machine, the combination, with a suds-box provided with a corrugated lining upon the interior thereof, a hinged cover,andastirrer mechanism supported upon said cover, of means for operating said stirrer mechanism, consisting of a crank-shaft, crank, crank-connector, a lever pivoted at one end on said box, and a rod connecting the other end of said lever with the operating-lever of the stirrer mechanism, and adapted to be disconnected therefrom to open the cover of the suds-box, all combined together and operated substantially as set forth.

2. In a washing-machine of the class described, mechanism for operating the stirrer, consisting of a crankshaft provided with a handle, a crank, a crank-connector adj ustably secured at its outer end to an upright lever, and said lever pivoted at one end, and a rod pivoted to the other end of said lever and provided with an eye or loop pivoted in the outer end thereof, for the purpose stated, in combination with an upright rocking arm mounted on a horizontal shaft, and said shaft and a bevel-gear secured thereon and meshing into and operating a bevel-gear secured on the vertical shaft of the stirrer, all substantially as shown and described.

GEORGE S. TOUGAS.

FRANQOIS FOURNIER.

Witnesses:

JOHN C. DEWEY, M. RALPH DRYDEN. 

